While Filipino fighters usually dominate the lighter weights with Manny Pacquiao being the biggest of them all at welterweight, promoter Gabriel “Bebot” Elorde believes he has a future middleweight prospect in Marlon Alta.

The last time the Philippines crowned a world middleweight champion was when Ceferino Garcia, known for the original bolo punch won the title with a 7^th round knockout of Fred Apostoli at Madison Square Garden on October 2, 1939, dropping Apostoli three times in the round.

Although the battle for the vacant WBC Youth Intercontinental title fight at the Flash Grand Ballroom in Sucat, Paranaque on Saturday lasted just two rounds it was loaded with action as Alta ripped the big Samoan-born Faumuina with vicious body shots that forced him to quit seated on his stool at the end of the second round.

International referee Bruce McTavish, himself a New Zealander who has lived in the Philippines for some 40 years told the Manila Standard it was a terrific fight while it lasted.

When Faumuina told the ringside physician that he couldn’t continue McTavish declared the 22 year old Alta the winner by a 2^nd round TKO.

Alta won the Philippine middleweight title with a 12^th round TKO over Benedict Fontines on June 18, 2011 and successfully defended the title with a twelve round unanimous decision over veteran Dondon Lapuz on September 17, 2011.

Former world junior welterweight champion Amir Khan’s grudge rematch with IBF and WBA champion Lamont Peterson has been called off after Peterson tested positive for banned steroids.

Khann himself confirmed that the fight had been cancelled and that he is looking for a possible opponent for a June 30 fight  date although nothing is definite.

Amir Khan who spent some two weeks with trainer Freddie Roach working out in Baguio City at the training camp of “Fighter of the Decade” Manny Pacquiao was in the final stages of his preparation for the rematch scheduled for May 19  when he learned that Peterson tested positive for a banned substance.

The Khan-Peterson fight was scheduled to be telecast on the popular weekly boxing show “Big Time Bakbakan” over Active television AKTV IBC 13.

The 25 year old 2000 Athens Olympic Games silver medalist said on his twitter account, “The fight is off! sorry everyone the only person to blame is @kingpete26. I’ll be looking for an opponent to fight June 30th.”

The  28 year old Peterson  is almost certain to be stripped of his WBA and IBF belts.

However, the IBF hasn’t announced what action it will take as of this time.

Championship Committee chairman Lindsey Tucker told the Manila Standard that the IBF “never approved the rematch between Peterson and Khan because we never received all of the signed contracts.”

World Boxing Organization flyweight champion Brian Viloria is dedicating his title defense against Mexico’s Omar Nino Romero at the Ynares Sports Center in Pasig City on Sunday to his close friend  and former world champion Andy Ganigan who passed away recently,  two years after suffering permanent brain damage following an unprovoked assault by a drunken man in Honolulu.

The hard-hitting southpaw of Filipino descent won the World Athletic Association lightweight title with a spectacular 2^nd round knockout of Sean O’Grady on October 31, 1981 after dropping the Irishman three times in the round.

The win over O’Grady earned Ganigan a shot at the WBC lightweight title held by the great Alexis Arguello of Nicaragua. Ganigan dropped Arguello in the first round but couldn’t put him away and eventually lost by  a 5^th round knockout in a 15 round title fight refereed by Filipino Carlos “Sonny” Padilla on May 22, 1982.

Viloria told the Manila Standard that Ganigan “is like an uncle to me. He taught me how to throw a good body shot (when Viloria was 13 years old). He loved that left hook and he taught me the mechanics of it and why you have to sit down on your punches, how you turn your body and throw the hook. I practiced for a few weeks after that,  just body shots alone.”

Heavy hitting light flyweight Denver Cuello (30-4-6, 20 KO’s) is scheduled to arrive in Mexico this weekend for his WBC world title eliminator

Top Rank promoter Bob Arum who was at the Wild Card Gym on Monday to watch pound for pound king  Manny Pacquiao on his first day of workouts since arriving from Manila over the weekend said “he was fine but a little jet-lagged.”

With five weeks of intense training ahead of him, Pacquiao began the day with a 6:45 a.m. run from Griffith Park up the Hollywood Hills to the landmark Hollywood sign, cutting a minute from his personal best time for the 5.63 kilometer mile distance finishing in 22 minutes.

Pacquiao worked out for a total of three hours in the afternoon, going  ten brisk rounds on  the punch-mitts with trainer Freddie Roach and another two hours of conditioning  exercises with strength and conditioning coach Alex Ariza and punching the heavy bag and honing his reflexes on the speed ball.

Roach described the workout as “a good session” even as he indicated that its now time for “the hard work and the strategy” while Arum said “ Manny worked hard but looked tired and that’s usual after a long flight.”

The astute promoter noted that Pacquiao “has plenty of time” and that the problem with his fight against Juan Manuel Marquez was that “he peaked too early so they are holding him back so he peaks at the right time” for his  WBO welterweight title defense against undefeated world junior welterweight champion Timothy “Desert Storm” Bradley at the MGM Grand Garden Arena on June 9.

Pacquiao said “Freddie and I had a  good camp in the Philippines and we are ready to work very hard in preparation for Timothy Bradley. Bradley is strong, undefeated and young. I have a great deal of respect for his talents and his accomplishments.

Commenting on speculation that Floyd Mayweather Jr may retire Pacquiao said “that is

his personal decision” even as he stressed “I have no plans to retire. I still love what I’m doing.”

Turning to the continuing drama with Floyd Mayweather Jr and a possible fight with Pacquiao, Arum said “the problem with Mayweather is that he understands boxing and would be a great matchmaker. He knows that if he fights Manny who is a southpaw who punches and moves, he’d be in trouble.”

The popular women’s volleyball Shakey’s V League has moved to Active TV or AKTV and will be telecast beginning Thursday on prime time over IBC 13.

Sports Vision chairman Moying Martelino told the Manila Standard that they had signed a contract to air the games on AKTV after they couldn’t come to terms with the government network NBN which telecast the games over the past years.

Martelino said the terms and conditions under which the Shakey’s V League games will be telecast are the same as when the widely-watched games were aired by NBN.

The games will be telecast at 7:00 p.m. on Thursdays, Mondays and Tuesdays.

What promises to be a thriller between San Sebastian College and University of Santo Tomas will highlight the initial telecast over AKTV.

The sports network will also telecast one of the two remaining games on the same day between Adamson and Letran or FEU and Perpetual Help.

World Boxing Organization (WBO) flyweight champion Brian Viloria (30-3, 16 KO’s) is ready for whatever former two-time champion and Mexican challenger Omar Nino Romero (31-4-2, 13 KO’s)brings when they clash at the Ynares Sports Center in Pasig City on Sunday.

Viloria, a three-time, two division world champion has been working out “almost every day” at the Gerry Penalosa Gym in Eastwood since he arrived in Manila last week . He said he is “already on weight and ready to go.”

Viloria told the Manila Standard “I am concentrating on maintaining my weight and staying in shape.”

Viloria said he is mentally ready and physically “even more ready” for his third encounter with Omar Nino Romero after losing his IBF light flyweight title in their first bout and ending up with a controversial draw in the rematch which was changed to a “no contest” after Omar Nino Romero tested positive for a banned substance in a post-fight medical examination.

Viloria said “it should be fun. I just can’t wait.”

He said “lets see what he’s got. I just want to put up a great fight and hope he does too. I’m ready for whatever he brings.”

The Viloria-Omar Nino Romero title fight on the morning of May 13 is presented by Solar Sports and promoted in cooperation with Zanfer Promotions of Mexico and will be telecast by GMA 7.

Viloria who won the WBO flyweight title with a spectacular 8^th round TKO of Ring Magazine’s No. 9 pound for pound fighter Giovanni Segura stressed “This is personal. Its something I need to prove to myself that I get over this hump that I hit a few years ago (referring to his two previous fights with Romero). This fight is more challenging because I want to get something cleared in my head.”

The champion said he feels “really confident going into this fight because my training has gone well and I’ve prepared myself to the best of my ability for this fight. I know I’m going to perform well and do a lot better than the Segura fight.”

Viloria conceded that Romero “is a tricky fighter and one of those guys who can out-box you even though you have better style, better power than him.”

He added “I really don’t have a future if I don’t get past Nino.”

In an intriguing ten round bout on the undercard for champions clash with Rodel Mayol who lost his WBC light flyweight title to Omar Nino Romero on June 19, 2010 in Mexico facing Julio Cesar “Pingo” Miranda who lost his title to Viloria on July 16, 2011 in Honolulu.

The 30 year old Mayol is coming off a 4^th round TKO of Ernie Marquez last October  27, 2011 while Miranda whom Viloria described as the hardest puncher he had fought is coming off a ten round unanimous decision over Cecilio Santos last December 17, 2011.

Mayol has a record of 30-5-2 with 22 knockouts while the 31 year old  Miranda has a record of 37-6-1 with 29 knockouts.

A DVD of the recent WBC light flyweight world title fight between  southpaw Jonathan Taconing of the Philippines and Kompayak Porpramook of Thailand is now with Tom Kaczmarek, chairman of the World Boxing Review Committee.

WBC president Don Jose Sulaiman told the Manila Standard that they had received a copy of the fight from WBC governor  Edward Thangarajah in Thailand and that it had been forwarded to Kaczmarek whom Sulaiman described as a “very competent and qualified former judge.”

Sulaiman emphasized they are looking for “the truth and justice.”

The Thai champion Kompayak was awarded a hugely controversial 5^th round technical decision over the No. 6 ranked Taconing, prompting the Filipino’s manager Johnny Elorde to write to Sulaiman stating he was “disappointed in the way the fight ended. Elorde said “we feel the fight should not have been stopped  as the cut on Kompayak was too small.”

Elorde noted that the Thai ring doctor was “atop the ring even if the fight was still going on” and that referee Jae Bong Kim of Korea “should not have come in and stopped the barrage of punches that Taconing was giving Kompayan in the 5^th round. Kompayak could have gone down if referee Kim did not stop it.”

Gretchen “Chen Chen” Abaniel failed to capitalize on another crack at a world title when she lost to Thailand’s Teeraporn Pannimit in a clash for the vacant WBO female minimum weight title in Bangkok..

The 26 year old Abaniel who  lost her bid for the IBF title to highly talented Mexican Katia Gutierrez by a 4^th round TKO in Sinaloa, Mexico last December 10 after dropping a ten round decision for the Women’s International Boxing Association and WBC Asia Boxing Council title to Samson Tor Buamas in Sukothai, Thailand on February 19, 2011 started off well against Pannimit but faded in the second half of the bout according to WBO Asia Pacific vice president Leon Panoncillo and lost a unanimous decision.

Panoncillo told the Manila Standard all three judges scored the fight for the Thai girl. Salven Lagumbay of the Philippines and Indonesia’s Rois Muhammad scored it for  Teeraporn   96-94 while Thai judge Surat Soikrachang had the Thai girl the winner by a wider 98-92 margin.

Panoncillo said it was a good fight with Gretchen “doing well in the early rounds and was winning the first half of the fight.”

However, the WBO executive said Abaniel “lost steam in the later rounds Terraporn came out strong throwing more   effective combinations while Gretchen was more in a defensive mode, backing up and being less effective.”

Panoncillo said it was “a close fight.”

The younger 19 year old Teeraporn Pannimit had earlier also lost by a 5^th round TKO to another fancied Mexican Jessica Chavez in an IBF light flyweight female title fight on January 14, 2012 but came back to win an eight round unanimous decision over Naporporn Superchamps whos real name is Napaporn Sor Ploenchit.

Abaniel  who is handled by former  Australian boxer Terry Mogg dropped to 10-4 with 2 knockouts while Teeraport improved to 16-5 with 5 knockouts.